John Cena beats Cody Rhodes at WWE WrestleMania 41 to make wrestling history with help from Travis Scott

John Cena now stands alone with the most world championship wins in pro wrestling history.

Cena, 47, defeated Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE championship in the main event of WrestleMania 41 Night 2 at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday night.

It gives Cena his 17th world championship, moving him one ahead of the legendary “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. 

Cena leaned into being a heel throughout the entire match and especially at the finish. Rapper Travis Scott came out to help Cena after Rhodes kicked out of a fourth Attitude Adjustment, pulling the ref out of the ring at one point to keep the “American Nightmare” from winning the match.

Cena then attempted to smash Rhodes in the face with the championship belt. Rhodes blocked it, but refused to hit Cena with it. The challenger then kicked Rhodes low and hit him with the title anyway to get the 1-2-3 and the historic win.

Cena played up his heel persona in the post-show press conference after first saying he wanted to develop a better relationship with the journalists who cover WWE. He proceeded to answer each question by saying it was a “clickbait question.”

“I’m beginning to sense a pattern here that you guys are just looking for headlines. So, I’ll give you one. Tune into Monday Night Raw to see how I ruin wrestling. And keep in mind, you are now talking to the last real champion. Step your game up next time,” Cena concluded before walking off.

Flair and Cena had been tied at 16 since the “Peacemaker” star won the WWE championship in January 2017. The win comes 20 years after he won his first WWE championship against JBL at WrestleMania 21 and ends Rhodes’ reign at 378 days.

It is also Cena’s first televised singles victory since he defeated Triple H at the Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018.

This, however, was Cena’s first world championship as a heel after turning on and attacking Rhodes, alongside The Rock and Scott, after 20‐plus years as a babyface in one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history. Cena is set to retire at the end of this year after 25 years in WWE.

Cena is Rhodes’s real-life mentor. He used to drive him up and down the roads during The American Nightmare’s first stint in the company.

The story going into the match had Cena breaking up with the WWE audience after years of making him the most polarizing performer in the sport despite all his wins. Cena called it an abusive relationship.

Cena said in one of his storyline promos that it made him sick to see his former driver bring mediocrity in his eyes to a championship he helped elevate for all those years. He plans to retire as champion and make everyone else chase a “toy belt.”

We will now get one more Cena championship run for however long it lasts. With Randy Orton on the Backlash poster with the event in his hometown of St. Louis, the two old rivals may face each other one last time, with Orton sitting on 14 world championships and trying to close the gap.

(Flair technically has more than 16 world title victories in his career, but the year-long placeholder WCW International World Heavyweight championship, which he won twice, and his non-televised NWA World’s Heavyweight champion wins are not recognized by WWE.)